\u201cHis smile is like the sun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everything froze at those words and I looked about the\ncrowded ballroom, trying to find him. The man who smiled the sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He wasn\u2019t here. It was foolish to think that he was, that he\ncould be here and I wouldn\u2019t have known. Still, I looked about the ballroom\nfull of bright gowns and tailored jackets one last time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nothing at all like the sun,\u201d I muttered as my gaze\nfell on the man across the room who was smiling our way. Smiling at me. And it\nwas blasphemous to even suggest it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
I slipped away before anyone could ask what I meant and\nthough I longed to go anywhere else, I made my way toward the man whose smile\nhad been mistakenly likened to the sun. I suppose if you thought of the sun\nonly as blinding, scorching, and painfully melting, then yes, his smile could\nbe likened to the sun. But the sun was so much more than that and he\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He opened his arms to me when I reached him and I let him\ndraw me in, pressing my lips to his cheek with a slight rasp of stubble, proof\nthat he\u2019d been up far too early. My whispered congratulations felt hollow in my\nmouth and it was a wonder I managed to choke it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If he was the sun, then I was the poor fool who flew to\nclose and got burnt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDance with me.\u201d He did not wait for a response and led me\nonto the floor because he knew if he gave me an option, I would deny him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was his wedding day. If I denied him, people would ask\nquestions and that was not something anyone could afford. So I let him lead me\nonto the floor without protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t see you at the ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou were busy.\u201d I didn\u2019t tell him that I was there, I\nwouldn\u2019t lie to him. Watching him marry another would have been one of the\nhardest things I\u2019d ever seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I waited for him to stop walking, to spin me in his arms in\ntime for the first chords, but instead we kept moving until we were at the\ndoors to the garden. Not too far away was the broad tree where we\u2019d met all\nthose years ago. It was still perfect for climbing, even if I no longer had the\nluxury of sitting in its branches, hidden by the dense foliage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI thought you wanted to dance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou hate to be a spectacle.\u201d Even out here we could hear\nthe swell of the orchestra as they launched into their next ballad. I slid my\nleft hand up his shoulder and rested it on the back of his neck even though it\npulled us closer than was proper. His hand was hot on my back and his eyes\nburned with passion when I looked into them. I held his gaze for a few\nheartbeats before looking away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wanted to ask him why he married her even though I knew\nwhy. I\u2019d helped set him up with her and they were perfect together. She was\nperfect for the kingdom: well-connected, well-bred, beautiful, and educated.\nShe would make him a fine queen. She was everything I was not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re happy, right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was too late, even if he wasn\u2019t. They were married and\nnothing but death would undo that and he did not have time to mourn a wife and\nfind another to marry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDoes it matter?\u201d He slid his arm tighter about my waist and\nI let him pull me against him until my cheek pressed to his chest and his shirt\ngrew damp. When had I started crying? \u201cFor now, I\u2019m here. With you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were any number of things I wanted to tell him, that\nwe would have been miserable together, that the kingdom would have suffered for\nour marriage, that I loved him. I choked it all down and slid both arms more\nfirmly about his neck. For this moment, none of that mattered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the orchestra died down, I stepped away, missing his\nwarmth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou should return to your wife. She\u2019ll be\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWondering where I\u2019ve run off to.\u201d He finished for me when I\ncouldn\u2019t muster the words. \u201cYou should stay and dance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I should, for appearances. But we both knew I would not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBe happy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If his smile was like the sun, it was hidden behind clouds\nthat broke its shine and wept its sadness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But at least he smiled and that was more than I could\nmanage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cHis smile is like the sun.\u201d Everything froze at those words and I looked about the crowded ballroom, trying to find him. The man who smiled the sun. He wasn\u2019t here. It was foolish to think that he was, that he could be here and I wouldn\u2019t have known. Still, I looked about the ballroom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[250,422,1004],"class_list":["post-11182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","tag-dance-with-me","tag-flash-fiction","tag-short-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}